WebProNews

eBay Completes Tender Offer for Gmarket

Today eBay announced the completion of a tender offer for all outstanding common shares and American Depositary Shares (ADSs) of Gmarket. Back in April, eBay announced that it was spending $1.2 billion to acquire those shares. Gmarket is known as Korea's leading eCommerce business, and it will apparently be combined with eBay's existing online marketplace in Korea, Internet Auction Company.

Google Goes the Privacy Route for YouTube in South Korea

Last month, reports came out indicating that Google might have to make YouTube users in South Korea confirm their real identities if they wanted to upload or comment on content. There is a law in that country that went into effect on April 1st, that requires users to provide their ID numbers and would require Google to turn over information to the South Korean government when asked.

Google Looking for A Larger Presence in Asia?

Google has acquired Korean "blog specialty" company TNC (Tatter and Company). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

MySpace Proud Of Overseas Progress

If you thought MySpace was an American phenomenon, you thought wrong.  The company wants you to know that it's been successful in all sorts of countries, and is continuing to expand throughout the world.

Google Korea Starts Checking IDs

This change has been expected for a while; if anything, it's only surprising that it took so long to be enacted.  But Google Korea has, for better or for worse, started asking for age verification following any adult-themed inquiries.

YouTube Korea Struggling

YouTube's recent entry into the Korean market has failed to have a strong impact there. The number of daily visitors to YouTube English and YouTube Korean sites reached 382,000 on January 23, the day it launched according to Rankey. Com, an online traffic-monitoring firm. The numbers began to dwindle the following day and dropped to 115,000 on January 31.

Google Redesigning Korean Search

Though Google's strategy with the search engine is “the simpler the better,” it seems that cultural demands placed on the search giant is forcing it to tweak the philosophy a bit in Korea.

YouTube Gets Tossed Into Korea

It hasn't had much success so far.  Yet Google seems determined to succeed in South Korea, and the next service to get launched in this market is YouTube.

Google's Navigational Bar Goes Far (Away)

Please don’t think we’re pretending this is a drastic change - it isn’t.  It will, however, slightly alter the daily search experience of millions of people worldwide, so we’re here to report that Google.com’s navigational bar has spread to several international versions.

Google China May Get New Homepage

China is the world’s most populous country, so, from a business perspective, pulling out all the stops to impress its citizens makes sense.  And that’s exactly what Google’s doing, as a possible new homepage has come to light.